D&D 2E [History] Historical Reference Softcovers. Which ones did you use?

[atanakar]

The books I most enjoyed reading during the 2e era were the Historical Reference books for the Dungeon Master. Did you create, run or participate in a campaign that used these books?

I never did. But wanted to run a Charlemane's Paladins quest once but it never materialized. Looking at them again I'm very tempted to use them I my next campaign.

 

[Shiroiken]

I owned most of them, and they were great, but I never actually used them for a campaign. I did steal a few ideas from them to use in my regular campaign, since they gave me a greater understanding of various cultures in the days before the internet.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The books I most enjoyed reading during the 2e era were the Historical Reference books for the Dungeon Master. Did you create, run or participate in a campaign that used these books?

I never did. But wanted to run a Charlemane's Paladins quest once but it never materialized. Looking at them again I'm very tempted to use them I my next campaign.

Can you change the poll to allow us to select more than one? Also a "I played 2E but didn't use any of these." option might be interesting?

Personally we had pretty much all of them, but only actually used material from the Celts, Age of Heroes, and A Mighty Fortress ones in actual campaigns. I think we used a weapon-type from the Viking one, but I wouldn't really count that.

EDIT - Thanks - to expand we ran both Celtic and Ancient Greek campaigns (neither terribly long-lived, but whatever), and also had characters with backgrounds from those in settings in Planescape campaigns. We never had a Three Musketeers-esque campaign like A Mighty Fortress suggested, but a lot of the stuff in that book was quite influential on how we played the FR and other settings (which tended more political and more smokepowder-y than the "default" FR).

 

[Morrus]

I owned and read them. Say, I don't think I used them. And now I want to own them again.

off to eBay!

 

[wingsandsword]

I ran a year-long campaign set during the 3rd Crusade, using the Crusades handbook. . .and I ran a campaign that lasted about 6 months that was set during the Roman Empire that used the Celts and Romans sourcebooks (since those eras overlapped).

I regret that they haven't done anything like these for later editions.

 

[atanakar]

That is a good point. We ended up not using them because they slowed down the pace of combat.

I ran a year-long campaign set during the 3rd Crusade, using the Crusades handbook. . .and I ran a campaign that lasted about 6 months that was set during the Roman Empire that used the Celts and Romans sourcebooks (since those eras overlapped).

I regret that they haven't done anything like these for later editions.

Cool!
My next campaign will use the Celts as a starting points.

 

[DND_Reborn]

We never used these, so again I would ask the poll be edited to include a "None." option. Then I can vote.

Thanks!

 

[Fenris-77]

I went through a low magic is kewl phase during 3rd where I dinked around with these books, but it never amounted to much. I did pillage them for mechanics of course, because that's what one did with 3rd Ed splat books.

 

[David Howery]

I had them all (emphasis on 'had'), but the only one I ever used was the Viking one for a couple of one-shots...

 

[Richards]

I picked up the Vikings one and the Age of Heroes, but though I read through them both I don't think I ever used anything from them.

Johnathan